Old New Year

[1][2][3] The holiday in North Macedonia is known as Old New Year (Macedonian: Стара Нова година, romanized: Stara Nova godina) or as Vasilica (Василица), "St.

1] Late on January 13, people gather outside their houses, in the center of their neighborhoods where they start a huge bonfire and drink and eat together.

The holiday is interesting as it combines secular traditions of bringing in the New Year with the Christian Orthodox Christmastide customs, such as Rozhdestvo.

Also in Scotland, the coastal town of Burghead in Morayshire celebrates the eve of the Old New Year with "The Burning o' the Clavie"[citation needed].

The Serbian Orthodox Church, with traditional adherence in Serbia (including Kosovo), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia, celebrates its feasts and holidays according to the Julian calendar.

Restaurants, clubs, cafes, and hotels are usually fully booked and organize New Year's celebrations with food and live music.

Residents who did not welcome and reward the visitors were thought to get a "llond y tŷ o fwg" (English: a house full of smoke), meaning a year of bad luck.

[12][13] The tradition of the Old New Year has been kept in Palestine, Jordan, Armenia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina (mainly among Serbs), Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Montenegro, Ukraine (Malanka) and Switzerland (as alter Silvester).

[15][better source needed] The same day is celebrated in Tamil-speaking lands as Thai Pongal, when the sun ends its southward journey and starts moving northward.